Our busy life with an amazing veterinarian and cattleman, a gardening, quilting and history loving wife and mother, a creative perfectionist violinist, a spunky and kind epileptic princess, a sweet yet wild little man, and the most mellow and happy babe, on a joyful 1/2 acre living and loving in a beautiful mountain valley.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Christmas Projects

Now that the Christmas gifts I made have been opened, I can share some with you. I made this lap quilt for my sister in law Angie. My sister knows it, but she has a similar one in the works that is nearly finished. It was fun and pretty easy, except for the applique. I just used a few charm packs that have 5" squares of coordinating fabric in them. I used my neighbor Debbie's quilting machine that currently resides in my basement! Thanks Debbie!

I also made a sassy little apron for my other sister in law Mindy. She is a country girl and so of course I chose near naked cowboy fabric for her! I made sure the cowboy I put front and center was the one that looked the most like her husband!

Here is a better picture from quilt guild. The ladies loved it!!

I did plan on making most of the Christmas gifts I gave away this year, but a funny thing happened in October. The Civil War. Who would have thought that a huge event that occurred 150 years ago would take over my life! I have ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, 90 years previous, but no direct ancestor to the War Between the States. Either way, it has consumed me. So with that said, I am passing the blame elsewhere. My intended homemade Christmas gifts were shoved very violently to the back burner to make room for 1860s dresses. This is one I made below.

The shirt is called a Garibaldi shirt and were very popular among the younger ladies, and since I consider myself 'younger' that is what I made! It is really pretty on the front, I made a bunch of pin tucks that look fabulous! I was going to cut another dress out today but my guts decided they wanted to leave my body in a most violent way also, so maybe tomorrow!

This habit will continue though! I got the cutest pattern to make the girls dresses and I am going to try the pattern out on Kelsey's baptism dress. It will be truly wonderful hopefully! My sweet little Kelsey turns 8 soon and it is killing me to have her grow up! She is such a super sweet little girl. I pray every night that she will stay that way!